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PAGE 172

ACCOUNT OF THE TREATY WITH THE KING AT PREDA.

good presage of ane blessing, and shewed what men some were minded to make use of. But howsoever all these came. When we were come to Bredah, it was put on my Lord Cassills to make some speech to the king at our first receiving, and on me to make ane other speech after him in name of the Church. This speech I did prepare, wherin were some things a litle free, such as I thought became ane minister to speak concerning the king himself and his father's house, and the counsells and wayes he had followed. This speech I did communicat, first to the commissioners of the Church, after to those of the State; but it was once and again so altered with delations and additions, that it was nothing like itself. Everything that was thought harsh behooved to be delate, and some things added such as would be thought most savorie in the entry of the treaty to the king and the court. I thought it was not my part to stand peremptory for ane paper of my own drawing, and they told me that I was not to show my own minde, but theirs. Thus I agreed to all. So dangerous it is for ane man of [a] simple disposition to be yoked to1 these who by witt, authority, and boldness, can overmaster them.2

When we began first to keep any meetings, the commissioners of the State did choose Cassills to be president, and after continued him dureing all the time. Some of us at first thought this a benefite to have him president of whom we had most confidence; but we did find that thereafter3 ane disadvantage; for ordinarly Lothian, Liberton, and Sir John Smith, agreed in one voice, and that sundry times such as some of us were not well satisfied with. Now there were to be of ane contrary opinion only Mr Brodie and Alexander Jaffray; and thus three being against two, carried it, the president not having place to give his voice4 but where there is ane equality. Some of our number urged once that the treaty might5 be by word of mouth, and not by papers; but that motion was rejected. The drawing up of the papers6 to be presented to the king was committed by those of the State to Mr Brodie, and



**************

1    "With."

2    "Him."

3    "Find it afterwards."

4    "Vote."

5    "Should."

6    "Papers."

PAGE 173

by those of the Church to Mr James Wood, wherin this oversight was committed in the very first papers, that the words and purpose of the instructions were not fully keeped, but both in the order and matter somewhat was altered or left out by them that drew them up, and more thereafter was altered upon debate in the meetings; whether for exornation of the language, or not to seem to be tyed to words and order of them, or to make things smooth in the beginning, or if there were any design in some that debated the alterations that something1 might not be mentioned at first, which they haveing sounded the mind of the court, found would not easily be granted; but we found it did harm thereafter, when those of the court alleadged we behooved to rest satisfied with that which was in our first papers.

We had access to the king upon Tuesday, yet no papers of the treaty were delivered to him till the Munday following, which was some neglect of diligence, the Parliament having limited the treaty to thirty dayes, and only granting ten dayes more in caice it were perceived that there were appearance of an good agreement at these forty dayes' end. And after delivering of the2 first papers, Lothian, Liberton, and Sir John Smith, went to3 Antwerp and Brussells, and stayed some eight or ten dayes, so that when the king had given us his first papers the Saturnday following, no return could be made to him, through the absence of them, till the Wedensday or Thursday of the next week.

We found the king of an courteous and tractable like disposition, which made some of us suspect that if all of our number had dealt alike earnestly, especially Lothian and Liberton, who most frequently and privatly resorted to court, but most of all Liberton, that the king at the first had granted all our desyres fully. The reason we thus suspected was, because we found these things the king stuck most at, those of our number in debate at our meetings argued that he should not be so much pressed in them; alleadging frequently that Commissioners had alwayes power to manage



**************

1    "Some things."

2    "These."

3    "See."






        
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